Chapter 234

Chapter 234
Chapter 234. Darkness within Darkness (4)

According to my assessment.

The perpetrator had committed three errors.

The initial one was their intentional effort to plant the insignia of the “Ak Clan” on the remains of Gu Gye-ak.

The second was their miscalculation regarding the sheer resilience of Ak Byeong-bi’s constitution.

Though, one could argue there is room for debate on this point.

Had they realized that man’s grip on life was as stubborn as a vermin’s, they certainly would have pierced his heart, just as they had done to Gu Gye-ak.

And the final error was……

That they had involved me in this scheme.

Above all else, this third misstep was the most critical.

To think they had singled me out—a man already saturated with the bitterness of an unfortunate existence—as a pawn for their crimes.

This was unforgivable, a provocation deserving of lethal consequences.

“What is going through your head?”

Blood Battle, trailing behind me, knitted his brows.

I gave a composed shrug.

“Hmm…… I need to lure the culprit out, don’t I?”

“What are you babbling about? How exactly do you intend to bait someone in hiding……?”

“The offender cannot resist taking interest in their own misdeed. It is an instinct no criminal can suppress. You understand this well yourself, Lord Blood Battle, do you not?”

“What?!”

This was not the Murim Alliance.

This was the Black Thought Alliance, a realm where brute force and carnage reigned supreme.

In this territory governed by the survival of the fittest, I had even secured the Alliance Leader’s sanction. What reason did I have to hesitate?

BANG.

I kicked the main gate open and marched inside. The martial artists lounging in the courtyard locked their sharp, hostile gazes onto me.

I brushed off their stares and projected my voice with confidence.

“I have arrived to see Bae Hwan-jang, the Deputy Sect Leader of the Yellow Sand Sect.”

Bae Hwan-jang was a notorious swordsman and a master of the Yang-Style Qi Arts.

Unlike Gu Gye-ak, who had joined the sect as an outsider later, he was a long-standing disciple of the Yellow Sand Sect, and because of this, he had frequently been at odds with Gu Gye-ak.

In other words, he was a prime suspect in the murder.

“What kind of deranged fool comes in here like that?!”

“Is that guy completely touched in the head?”

“He’s lost his mind.”

As anticipated, the atmosphere diverged from the Murim Alliance immediately, even in their choice of insults.

Those from Orthodox Path sects would at least preface their hostility with “courtesy.” These thugs drew their blades before even rising to their feet.

At that moment.

“You dare speak the title of Lord Bae, the esteemed elder of our sect.”

A voice dripping with malice echoed toward me.

The man shoving his way through the disciples was Gal Cheon-gi.

His rage made him appear as though he were a devoted son hearing his parents being slandered.

Yet, hadn’t you only recently joined the Yellow Sand Sect?

An observer might easily mistake you for someone born into the organization.

“Ah! Gal Cheon-gi. It is good to see you, but I have arrived today to speak with the Deputy Sect Leader, so, uh…… do go and summon him for me.”

“You, you insolent rat!”

True to his reputation as a man incapable of restraining his temper, he thrust his saber at me without asking a single question.

Honestly, he is such a nuisance.

Very well, let us send these nuisances somewhere else……

I shifted my stance, deployed Lotus, and hurled him directly at Blood Battle.

“Eh?”

Blood Battle, who had been observing with his hands clasped behind him, clicked his tongue at the blade inches from his face and shifted his position with casual detachment.

Then.

BOOM! KABOOM!

Gal Cheon-gi was sent hurtling away with a thunderous blast of displaced air, slamming into the wall.

Blood Battle raised his voice, clearly piqued.

“What do you think you are doing?”

I feigned an expression of surprise, as if I were entirely oblivious.

“Oh? Why were you standing there, of all places? I am merely doing my job.”

“……You are suggesting this is my fault?”

“Naturally. You could have simply sidestepped.”

“Hmph……! This punk, I have been indulging your antics for far too long.”

Meanwhile, the Yellow Sand Sect’s martial artists swarmed toward me.

I grabbed the arm of one disciple, relieved him of his blade, and sent him sprawling with a kick.

“Keuk!”

After driving my knee into the chin of the fallen man, knocking him senseless, I parried the two saw-toothed sabers coming for my vitals.

SCREEEECH.

The jagged blades clashed, producing a metallic, ear-piercing grind that echoed throughout the grounds.

I relaxed my grip for a fraction of a second and once again executed Lotus—

Then launched another disciple into Blood Battle.

“Jin So-un, you damn bastard! Why do you keep……!”

BOOM! KABOOM!

Wow, his reflexes are truly sharp.

Such incredible speed.

With a slight shift of his foot, Blood Battle deflected the flying disciple, sending him careening into Gal Cheon-gi, who was just regaining his feet.

“Now, why do you keep getting in the way? I asked you not to interfere.”

“You punk! You keep……”

“You could have simply dodged, could you not?”

“I have never dodged anything in my life…… You son of a bitch! Stop it!”

I continued hurling the martial artists at him one after another.

BOOM! KABOOM!

BOOM! KABOOM!

After this cycle repeated five times, with Gal Cheon-gi being repeatedly hammered back into the wall by the human projectiles, the Yellow Sand Sect’s disciples began to waver, creating a wider radius around me.

In this respect, the Black Path crowd is easier to handle.

At the very least, once they identify that someone is superior to them, they cease their suicidal charges, do they not?

I gestured with my chin toward the groaning Gal Cheon-gi and called out to the remaining disciples.

“Go and fetch Deputy Sect Leader Bae Hwan-jang.”

The Yellow Sand Sect men shifted their eyes uncertainly, paralyzed by hesitation.

If they went to fetch the Deputy Sect Leader, it would appear as though they had submitted to an Orthodox Path brat they had previously disregarded.

But if they refused, they risked being treated like shuttlecocks between Gal Cheon-gi and the masonry.

At that moment.

“Martial artists of the Yellow Sand Sect, attention!”

Accompanied by a booming voice from within the pavilion, dozens of warriors poured out.

The aura they exuded was of a caliber far surpassing the riffraff I had just incapacitated.

The man scanned the chaotic scene before fixing his gaze on me.

“It seems there is an insignificant Orthodox Path nobody here who disrespects the Yellow Sand Sect. Show him that our sect is not to be trifled with!”

“Yes, sir!”

Following a thundering chorus, dozens of warriors moved in unison, occupying the eight cardinal points to form a saber formation.

This might prove challenging……

Whoosh.

At the abrupt rush of wind, I lifted my gaze.

……Blood Battle had lightly vaulted off the ground to perch upon the roof of the main gate.

I asked with a profoundly bewildered expression.

“Did you not claim you never dodged?”

“Hold your tongue. I cannot endure annoying situations.”

“Understood.”

Well, I had not expected any real assistance to begin with.

I unsheathed the Black Dragon Sword and ignited the Taeul True Scripture.

A moment later.

Four blades of Ten Thousand Swords, perfect replicas of the Black Dragon Sword, manifested and encircled me.

Standing before the Yellow Sand Sect’s ranks, I offered a grin.

“Let us see just how formidable the Yellow Sand Sect truly is.”

As if my voice were the catalyst, the saber formation shifted, and immense, suffocating pressure converged upon me from every direction.

Although he had intervened under the weight of Cha Seok-du’s heavy request, at this moment, Blood Battle was more preoccupied with observing Jin So-un than fulfilling that mission.

This situation was effectively a powder keg, potentially igniting war between the Black Thought Alliance and the Murim Alliance.

The Envoy Delegation was in peril, and its leader was sidelined by grave injuries.

Jin So-un had to navigate this crisis without a single lead or external support.

Blood Battle had harbored high expectations for how the promising talent known as the Black Flame Dragon would untangle this mess.

And yet……

‘What is this?’

A cacophony so deafening that his brows furrowed instinctively filled the air.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM!

Violent explosions erupted, causing the very foundations to tremble.

The newly paved blue-steel stone floor was shattered, and the meticulously leveled earth was churned up, exposing the soil beneath.

It was clearly a one-against-many struggle, yet the screams of agony and curses were originating entirely from the Yellow Sand Sect’s side.

“What the fuck! What is that monster?!”

“It is an Illusion Sword! Do not waver, just push through the formation!”

“Fuck! You say that like it is a simple task! That Illusion Sword nearly severed my arm, you bastard!”

Blood Battle let out a hollow, incredulous laugh.

“Hah, this is so absurd it is driving me to madness.”

On the journey here, he had attempted to gauge Jin So-un’s martial aptitude, but this performance vastly exceeded his previous estimates.

No, even now, it did not appear that he was unleashing his full power.

As if his sole intent was to create a disturbance, he utilized bold and reckless maneuvers, yet in reality, no one suffered permanent injury or death.

BAM, BAM, BAM!

The sudden uproar erupting at the Yellow Sand Sect quickly rippled out to the surrounding Black Path residents, and as individuals who craved combat, they positioned themselves to watch, gathering faster than anyone else.

“What is going on? Why are the Black Flame Dragon and the Yellow Sand Sect clashing?”

“I heard there was friction after he came to investigate the Deputy Sect Leader?”

“Investigate? What investigation is the Black Flame Dragon conducting?”

“They say he stepped forward to uncover the truth behind Gu Gye-ak’s demise.”

“What kind of lunatic is that? They killed him themselves, and now they are investigating?”

As the truth of the incident trickled out, some among the Black Path crowd could no longer suppress their indignation.

Furthermore, as the Yellow Sand Sect was being one-sidedly pushed back by the Black Flame Dragon’s overwhelming might, even more people grew enraged.

Ultimately, they rose from their spots.

“Let us teach that arrogant brat a lesson!”

“Good! How long are we going to endure the oppression of the Murim Alliance?!”

“Let us move!”

“Uaaaaaaaah!”

The saber formation maintained by the Yellow Sand Sect’s martial artists had long since been shattered.

As if striving to fill the void, the Black Path martial artists who had gathered after hearing the commotion began climbing over the walls, charging at Jin So-un.

As dozens of men rushed in simultaneously, Jin So-un’s movements accelerated even further.

“Look at this crazed bastard……”

Blood Battle could not help but be stunned as he watched Jin So-un’s prowess.

He himself had achieved every possible—and impossible—feat during his own violent youth, but even that had its boundaries.

He had never provoked enemies like this in the heart of their own stronghold and engaged an endless wave of foes alone.

It was a truly terrifying display of sheer capability.

Before he realized it, Blood Battle was tracking every one of Jin So-un’s movements.

KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM.

Jin So-un’s figure glided as if skating across ice, creating space.

Black Path men armed with swords, axes, and pitchforks flooded that space, raining sharp weapons down upon him.

When the fist extending from Jin So-un’s left hand painted the air with dozens of Fist Forms, the weapons seeking his life could advance no further, blocked as if by an impenetrable stone wall.

THUD! THUD, THUD! THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD!

Four martial artists collapsed from the force of the extended strikes.

Behind them, six more Black Path warriors immediately filled the vacuum.

A battle of this nature would never conclude, no matter how long it raged.

“Huh…… Was the Taeul Sect’s martial art truly this potent?”

Blood Battle let out an exclamation before he could stop himself.

He then shook his head.

‘No. This is an enlightenment the boy reached entirely on his own!’

He flawlessly utilized the principle of Variation to throw his opponents into confusion, then employed the principle of Speed to suppress them in one stroke.

‘Hah……!’

Illusion and Reality were so masterfully blended that even Blood Battle found it difficult to distinguish the true from the false.

The principle of Combat, which Blood Battle had only grasped after surviving hundreds of brushes with death, was being freely wielded by a man who had only just turned twenty.

‘Just what kind of monster is he?’

However, that momentum only lasted for a time.

Once nearly thirty minutes had passed, Jin So-un began to show signs of wavering.

It was not a significant duration to the senses, but considering he had been suppressing two or three men in a single breath, his stamina would struggle to endure, even setting aside his inner energy.

Moreover, the greater problem was that Jin So-un was clearly holding back his lethality.

The people he struck could not rise, but the fact that none of them were suffering lethal wounds caused the lowly Black Path rabble to grow a hundredfold in courage, fueling their relentless charges.

“He is exhausting his energy! Just a little more!”

“Sever that bastard’s head! Mount it on a pole and display it at the Black Thought Alliance’s main gate!”

“Kill him!”

Amid the cacophony of violence and screams, with blood and teeth flying, the Black Path martial artists, their bloodlust peaking, channeled even more energy and swarmed Jin So-un.

Conversely, Jin So-un was visibly faltering bit by bit.

-Jin So-un! What the hell are you planning?!

Unable to remain a spectator any longer, Blood Battle sent a Sound Transmission, but no reply came from Jin So-un.

As if he were entirely lost in the combat, the moment he floored one thug, he swung his sword, fists, and feet in a Trance, striking down the next.

At first, even his footwork had been fluid, but because the courtyard was now littered with bodies, his feet began to trip time and again. There were countless moments when he stumbled, exposing fatal openings.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

Eventually, shallow lacerations began appearing on Jin So-un’s limbs.

The Black Path crowd did not miss the opportunity, swarming in like frenzied beasts.

“The bastard is bleeding!”

“Kill him!”

“The end is here!”

Unable to watch any further, Blood Battle finally sprang from his perch and entered the fray.

He swiftly positioned himself back-to-back with Jin So-un.

“You absolute lunatic……! Do you intend to die here today?”

Seeing that Jin So-un offered no response, Blood Battle eventually hoisted him up by force and leaped onto the roof.

Contrary to his expectation of fierce resistance, Jin So-un leisurely shook the blood from his blade and sheathed the Black Dragon Sword.

“Huh?”

Furthermore, unlike just moments ago, he did not even appear fatigued.

“What on earth is going on?”

Whether Blood Battle regarded him with a dumbfounded stare or not, Jin So-un’s expression remained serene.

“You claimed it was an annoying task, yet you interfered after all.”

“What?!”

When Jin So-un let out a playful laugh, Blood Battle was rendered speechless.

“What on earth were you thinking, staging something like this?! Were you not attempting to identify the culprit?”

Jin So-un calmly brushed the dust from his clothing and replied,

“I can extract two results from this matter.”

“Two things?”

Jin So-un gave a slight nod.

“Yes. First, the Black Thought Alliance will comply obediently with the investigation from this point forward.”

Blood Battle nodded instinctively.

Rather than enduring this kind of chaos every time, cooperation would be significantly more manageable.

But he soon shook his head.

That would only apply to some, not all.

“You do not comprehend how treacherous these low-level Black Path filth can be.”

“I do, of course. However, once they realize that I am operating under your protection, Lord Blood Battle, they will not dare to challenge me recklessly again.”

Blood Battle’s jaw dropped.

“You planned for this from the beginning?”

“Since I am an envoy of the Murim Alliance, there was no chance the Black Path factions would aid me, even if I begged for their cooperation.”

“Hmph…… Damnation. And what if I had not intervened?”

Jin So-un smiled with composure, as though he had foreseen every variable.

“If the role was merely that of a watcher, there were plenty of others who could have filled the position besides you, Lord Blood Battle. There would also have been no necessity for you to reveal yourself within my field of vision. Does that not signify that this was also intended to safeguard the Envoy Delegation?”

No, he had known that?

Since when?

“Furthermore, if it were simple protection, they could have utilized martial artists from Four Emperors Peak, the Alliance Leader’s own sect. Yet, the fact that he deliberately assigned you two as guards must mean it was to prepare for any potential danger, would it not?”

“……”

His mind was truly not ordinary.

Perhaps it was only natural that I had lost to him at go.

For the first time in his life, spanning more than one full cycle, Blood Battle felt goosebumps trace his forearms.

“Black Flame Dragon…… That Seok-du bastard named you terrifyingly well.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. In any event, this incident was far too massive to claim you gained from it. Now, every Black Path thug gathered in the Black Thought Alliance will hunt you. Will you be safe?”

Jin So-un smiled in triumph.

“That is precisely one of the two things I gained.”

Blood Battle asked in return, struggling to fathom his intent.

“A threat to your life?”

Jin So-un nodded decisively.

“The stage has now been set. From the perspective of the perpetrator who desires conflict between the Murim Alliance and the Black Thought Alliance……”

Finally, Jin So-un’s eyes began to glint with intensity.

“Is this not an opportunity they cannot afford to ignore?”

“……”

Until this moment, Blood Battle had never felt a flicker of fear toward anyone or anything.

Yet, strangely, from the youth smiling before his eyes, he felt a chilling sensation for the first time in his life.